The Origin of the University of Oxford

The Origin of the University of Oxford W HEN Brutus the Trojan conquered the isle of Albion, which took from him thenceforth the name of Britain, he was accompanied by certain Greek philosophers, who found a home on the upper waters of the Thames, where the village of Graeco-lade, or Cricklade, still recalls the nationality of these learned immigrants.Here they opened schools, which were subsequently transferred to the Beaumont suburb of Oxford, and academical degrees were conferred in the parish church of St. Giles.At a still later date the masters and scholars were finally established within the walls of the city, which having been founded by King Memphric, the great-grandson of Brutus, in the days when Saul was king in Israel, was at first called ' Caer-memre,' but afterwards successively' Bellisitum,'' Caer-bosa,' ' Bidohen,' and ' Oxenfordia.'Many centuries afterwards, the university, having fallen somewhat into decay, was restored by King Alfred, who called thither as teachers St. Neot, St. Grimbald, John of St. Davids, and Asser the priest.He also founded three Halls, known as the ' great,' the ' less,' and the ' little ' halls of the university, and ordered his nobles to send their sons to Oxford for education.Such is the myth, or rather aggregation of myths, which satisfied the curiosity of many generations of inquirers into university history.It doubtless grew up without much conscious exercise of the inventive faculty, but rather as the natural product of misunderstood tradition, bad etymology, and a total ignorance of historical perspective.In its fully developed form it is to be found in the ' History of the Kings of England,' written about 1486 by John Rouse, chantry priest of Warwick, who had, however, combined and harmonised in one smooth tale several inconsistent stories of much older date.Thus the transfer of the schools from Cricklade is asserted in a semi-official' historiola,' prefixed to a copy of the earliest extant statutes, written not later than 1875 ; * while the foundation of the university by Alfred is maintained in the chronicle of Ralph Higden composed about I860, 2 and in the Hyde Abbey chronicle of * Bolls series, p. 41. 4 Printed in the following year.On the two Keys and their works, see Mr

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